An Act Converting the Naval High School in the Municipality of Naval, Province of Leyte, into an Institute of Technology, Giving it Corporate Existence, Providing for a Board of Trustees, Defining the Board’s Responsibilities and Duties, Providing Higher Vocational, Professional, Educational and Technical Instruction and Training in Trade and Industrial Education, Offering of Technological, Engineering, Education and Other Professional Courses, and for Other Purposes

REPUBLIC ACT No. 4309

An Act Converting the Naval High School in the Municipality of Naval, Province of Leyte, into an Institute of Technology, Giving it Corporate Existence, Providing for a Board of Trustees, Defining the Board’s Responsibilities and Duties, Providing Higher Vocational, Professional, Educational and Technical Instruction and Training in Trade and Industrial Education, Offering of Technological, Engineering, Education and Other Professional Courses, and for Other Purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. The present Naval High School in the Municipality of Naval, Province of Leyte, is hereby converted into an institute of technology to be known as Naval Institute of Technology, which shall offer not only its present four-year secondary trade, four-year technical courses and four-year courses leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Arts and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education but also the five-year course leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Industrial Education, the engineering courses leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and as soon as facilities warrant Pharmaceutical, Dental, Commerce, Medical, and Agricultural courses will be offered. Evening classes in the abovementioned courses must be offered.

Section 2. The purpose of said institute of technology shall be to provide higher vocational, professional, and technical instruction and training in trade and industrial education and other vocational courses, professional courses, such as Medicine, Commerce, Pharmacy, Education, Agriculture, and Dentistry and to offer engineering courses to uplift the technological, and potential talents of the youth in his part of the archipelago; and for special purposes to promote research, advance studies and progressive leadership in the field of trade, technical industrial and technological education.

Section 3. The head of this institution shall be known as the President of the Naval Institute of Technology. He shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation of the Board of Trustees, subject to the confirmation of the Commission on Appointments. The powers and duties of the President of the Institute, in addition to those specifically provided for in this Act, shall be those pertaining to the office of the President of a college.

Section 4. The government of the Naval Institute of Technology is hereby vested in a Board of Trustees, to be composed of the Secretary of Education, who shall be ex-officio Chairman of the Board, the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the Senate, the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the House of Representatives, the Director of Public Schools, the President of the Naval Institute of Technology and the President of the Chamber of Industries of the Philippines, as members. In the absence or inability of the Secretary of Education, the Undersecretary of Education shall act as the ex-officio Chairman of the Board. In the absence or inability of both the Secretary and Undersecretary of Education or when those positions are vacant, the other members of the Board may elect from among themselves a temporary chairman who shall act as chairman.

The member of the Board of Trustees and Secretary of the Board shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred either in attendance upon meetings of the Board or upon other official business authorized by resolution of the Board.

Section 5. The Board of Trustees shall have the following powers and duties in addition to its general powers of administration:

Section 6. A quorum of the Board of Trustees shall consist of a majority of all members. All processes against the Board of Trustees shall be served on the Chairman or Secretary thereof.

Section 7. On or before the fifteenth day of June of each year, the Board of Trustees shall file with the President of the Philippines a detailed report, setting forth the progress, condition and needs of the Institute.

Section 8. There shall be a College Council, consisting of the President of the Institute, dean of instruction, registrar, college dean, department heads, professors, associate professors and of all instructors of the Institute. The Council shall have the power to prescribe the curricula and rules of discipline, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees. It shall fix the requirements for admission to the Institute, as well as for graduation and the receiving of a title or degree. The Council alone shall have the power to recommend students or others to be recipients of titles or degrees. Through its president or committee, it shall have disciplinary power over the students within limits prescribed by the rules of discipline approved by the Board of Trustees.

Section 9. The body of instructors, professors, associate professors, department heads, college deans, registrar, dean of instruction shall constitute the faculty, with the President of the Institute as the presiding officer. In the appointment of professors, guest professors, guest lecturers, registrar, college dean, department heads, instructors and office personnel of the Institute, no religious test shall be applied, nor shall the religious opinions or affiliation of the faculty of the Institute be a matter of examination or inquiry: Provided, That no instructor/or professor in the Institute shall inculcate sectarian tenets in any of the teaching, nor attempts either directly or indirectly under penalty of dismissal by the Board of Trustees, to influence students or attendants at the Institute for or against any particular church or religious sect.

Section 10. There shall be a secretary of the Institute to be appointed by the Board of Trustees. He shall be at the same time the secretary of the Board of Trustees and shall keep such records of the Institute or such other duties as may be designated by the Board.

Section 11. The dean of instruction, registrar, college deans, associate professors, professors and other regular instructors in the Institute shall be exempt as such from any civil service examination or regulations as a requisite to appointment.

Section 12. The Board of Trustees shall fix the compensation of the employees and other personnel of the Institute whose appointments will be recommended by the President of the Institute.

Section 13. The President of the Institute, with the cooperation of Division Superintendents and/or Superintendent of Schools of Arts and Trades, may use one or more of their secondary or elementary schools as training or laboratory schools for student-teaching of the Institute.

Section 14. Heads of bureaus and offices of the National Government are hereby authorized to loan or transfer, upon request of the President of the Institute such apparatus, equipment or supplies as may be needed by the Institute, and to detail employees therein for duty, when in the judgment of the head of the bureau or office such apparatus, equipment, supplies or employees can be spared without serious detriment to the public service. Employees so detailed shall perform such duties as are required under such detail and the time so employed shall count as part of their regular service.

Section 15. In order not to interrupt the smooth functioning of the present curricula of the Naval High School the faculty of the school as well as the other personnel shall be absorbed by the new Institute and their salaries shall be adjusted at the discretion of the Board of Trustees within the amount available for appropriation.

Section 16. The Treasurer of the Philippines shall be ex-officio Treasurer of the Institute and all accounts and expenses thereof shall be audited by the Auditor General or his duly authorized representative.

Section 17. All the personnel, properties, records and obligations of the Naval High School are hereby transferred to the Naval Institute of Technology.

Section 18. The sum of five hundred thousand pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated from the National Treasury for the operation and maintenance of the said institute of technology during the fiscal year nineteen hundred sixty-six. Thereafter, the necessary sum needed for its operation and maintenance shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

Section 19. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 19, 1965.